Bears Seen Wandering On Wethersfield Country Club Golf Course

June 14, 2013|BY CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN, Special to The Courant, The Hartford Courant

WETHERSFIELD — Police received multiple reports of one or two bears at various locations in town Wednesday and Thursday, but officers have not yet seen the animal or animals.

The sightings come after police in neighboring Newington tracked a bear through backyards Tuesday afternoon before it disappeared into the woods.

The first report of a bear was at around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday on the Berlin Turnpike near Arrow Road, police said in a press release. On Thursday, a bear was seen at around 7:30 a.m. in the area of Desmond Drive and again about 40 minutes later on Wells Road near Mapleside Drive, police said.

At 10:30 a.m. Thursday, two bears were spotted at the Wethersfield Country Club, police said. Club employees said they near the golf course's third hole.

"A few members have called in and said they saw them," said Eric Vavra, an assistant golf pro.

A member told Vavra "they climbed a fence at our third hole and came to the course. There were two of them," he said.

"We were closed due to the weather anyway," he said.

Jackie Concatelli, an assistant manager at the club, said a groundskeeper spotted the animals around 11:30 a.m. or noon.

The last sighting was about 2 p.m. when a homeowner on Clarkridge Road reported seeing a bear in his backyard, police said.

Officers were dispatched, but never spotted the bear or bears, police said. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection was notified of the sightings, police said.

Police asked residents to be on the look out and reminded them that bears are attracted to garbage, pet food, compost piles, fruit trees and birdfeeders. They asked homeowners to take steps to make their properties less attractive to bears.